Putin plays “Risk”, Potus plays “Sorry”. 

Remember it was all the way back on February 19th when Obama promised to take action if Vladimir Putin “stepped over the line” and used military action in Crimea. Russia has not only used military action, it has annexed Crimea.  So today:
WASHINGTON DC – President Barack Obama today imposed sanctions on seven top Russian government officials and four others from Ukraine and warned Russia will face more penalties if it doesn’t pull back from Crimea.
“Continued Russian military intervention in Ukraine will only deepen Russia’s diplomatic isolation and exact a greater toll on the Russian economy,” Obama said at the White House. The U.S. can “calibrate our response” based on whether Russia chooses “to escalate or to de-escalate the situation.”
The U.S. actions, which mark the broadest use of sanctions on Russia since the end of the Cold War, were made in concert with the 28-member European Union, which imposed its own set of penalties. The U.S. also included a ban on travel visas.

Obama left the door open for diplomacy, saying Russia must pull its forces back to their bases in Crimea, accept international monitors and open discussions with the government in Kiev.  (read more)
 

(UK Independent) The Libyan former prime minister Ali Zeidan fled last week after parliament voted him out of office.
A North Korean-flagged oil tanker, the Morning Glory, illegally picked up a cargo of crude from rebels in the east of the country and sailed safely away, despite a government minister’s threat that the vessel would be “turned into a pile of metal” if it left port: the Libyan navy blamed rough weather for its failure to stop the ship. Militias based in Misrata, western Libya, notorious for their violence and independence, have launched an offensive against the eastern rebels in what could be the opening shots in a civil war between western and eastern Libya.
Without a central government with any real power, Libya is falling apart. And this is happening almost three years after 19 March 2011 when the French air force stopped Mu’ammer Gaddafi’s counter-offensive to crush the uprising in Benghazi. Months later, his burnt-out tanks still lay by the road to the city. (more…)

BBC reporting 95.5% in #Crimea voted to join Russia. Which means that North Korea will claim their dictator is 4.5% better.

— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) March 16, 2014

(Reuters Report) Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders “the ground will burn under their feet”.
RIA news agency said 93 percent backed annexation, citing an exit poll released as voting ended at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Another Russian agency said turnout was over 80 percent.
Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Kiev said Russia’s build-up of forces in the Black Sea region was in “crude violation” of an international treaty, and announced plans to arm and train 20,000 members of a newly-created National Guard to defend the nation. (link)
(more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.  (read more)

A reliable outside Tree House military source says “watch the Maldives“... 

• Police investigate data from home flight  simulator of captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53
• Investigators speak of his ‘obsessive’  support for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
• Police officers fear  Ibrahim being jailed could have left Shah profoundly upset

(Via UK Daily Mail ) Police are investigating the possibility that  the pilot of missing Flight MH370 hijacked his own aircraft in a bizarre  political protest.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Captain  Zaharie Ahmad Shah was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Malaysia’s opposition leader,  Anwar Ibrahim. And hours before the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is  understood 53-year-old Shah attended a controversial trial in which Ibrahim was  jailed for five years.
Campaigners say the politician, the key  challenger to Malaysia’s ruling party, was the victim of a long-running smear  campaign and had faced trumped-up charges. (more…)

(WASHINGTON DC) – Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped fellow Republicans on Thursday for objecting to a package of aid and sanctions to respond to the Ukrainian crisis, calling himself “embarrassed” and telling his GOP colleagues: “Don’t call yourself Reagan Republicans.”

The Senate has erupted in a dispute over provisions related to the International Monetary Fund in the Ukraine bill, as conservative Republicans protest that it is an unnecessary component of the package that passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan vote this week.
In a fiery floor speech Thursday evening, McCain, who backed the Ukraine bill and has urged for a speedy congressional response, said he hasn’t “been embarrassed this way about members of my own party.” (more…)

It doesn’t take a tin foil hat to see how the FBI black-op’s investigation of CIA Director General Petraeus and his secret affair with Paula Broadwell was leveraged for sunlight avoidance.

WASHINGTON DC – American personnel on the ground in Benghazi the night of the 2012 terror attack are outraged after learning that the CIA’s inspector general never conducted an investigation into what happened — despite two CIA workers being killed in the attack and despite at least two complaints being filed by CIA employees.

Former Ambassador Chris Stevens, another State official and two ex-Navy SEALs working for the CIA were killed in that attack.
Many in the agency were told, or were under the impression, that an investigation was in the works, but that is not the case.
One person close to the issue told Fox News: “They should be doing an investigation to see what the chief of base in Benghazi and station chief in Tripoli did that night. If they did, they’d find out there were some major mistakes.” (more…)

The tickets were purchased by an Iranian middle man.  Apparently, the men were trying to flee Iran and illegally enter/immigrate to Europe.

(Via The Telegraph)  The two men travelling on stolen passports on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that mysteriously disappeared on Saturday have been identified as Iranian nationals.
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A BBC Persian report quotes an Iranian friend of one of the men, who said he hosted the pair in Kuala Lumpur after they arrived from Tehran in the days preceding their flight to Beijing.
The friend, who knew one of the men from his school days in Iran, said the men had bought the fake passports because they wanted to migrate to Europe.  The pair were travelling on passports belonging to Christian Kozel, an 30-year-old Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi, a 37-year-old Italian. (more…)

Der Spiegel cover:

"The Arsonist: Who Will Stop Putin?" pic.twitter.com/mqEJJJ7fUv via @adagamov

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) March 9, 2014

(more…)

Vlad Putin considers these “liberty Mines” I’m sure…

On #Crimea border of #Ukraine, Russia forces have placed a minefield. pic.twitter.com/uXudpFTPe8 Photo by @EvgenyFeldman

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) March 8, 2014

Seriously, is there another visual demonstration which highlights Russia’s intent on taking Crimea as part of its own expansion plans?   CLICK HERE for some more incredible pictures of current events.
(Via Telegraph) A new frontier has been laid down within Europe as Russian forces laid landmines at the top of the Crimean peninsula and fired warning shots at a European observer mission. (more…)